The trip across the United States was uneventful. Anton flew about 1,000 feet above the roads as he made his way west. He headed west toward Chicago and then on to Omaha. From Omaha, he headed west to Denver, then Las Vegas, and finally on to Los Angeles. It was interesting to see what the area had looked like back in the 1920s, if this was a true historical representation of Earth, of course.
He watched for anything out of the normal, but nothing caught his attention. His ability to see magic automatically was a nice game changer but not useful when everything around him appeared normal.
When he reached the west coast, he found a secluded beach and sat down to meditate and regain his Psychic Energy. He had about 4 hours of flying left and he might as well be topped off before he headed out. Again, he saw nothing out of the ordinary or magical here. Why would the Labyrinth copy such a location and make it a stopping point before opening into a world that did have magic?
His meditation complete, Anton activated Specter and launched into orbit as he headed west over the Pacific. He was, of course, correct. It was a lot easier to see the world laid out below him as he rose in altitude. That made it a lot easier to find, and then head for Australia. It still took four hours but at least he didn’t have to worry about wind resistance or being overheated during reentry.
During the flight, he looked over the changes to his abilities and skills and noticed a theme. It seemed that the changes to the SYSTEM relied more on the level of the ability, skill, or spell. Attributes still mattered and could be quite devastating if used correctly but the level of the ability, skill, or spell was what really mattered. There was also new information available; Estimated training time to earn the next skill level which was labeled ETT which he zeroed in on as soon as he saw it. Anton pulled up the information on Specter which read
ETT: 251 Hours / 246 hours remaining.
Anton could also display the information in minutes.
ETT: 15,050 minutes / 14,685 minutes remaining
Anton looked through his skills and was able to get an idea of how long constant training would take though his purely combat skills displayed that information as an ETU, Estimated Times Used. His skill Short Blades at level 21 had an ETU to reach level 22 of 22,500. Did that mean he had to use the skills 22,500 times successfully, or just use the skill whether he hit something or not?
As he looked over his skill list he noticed a new skill that he hadn’t purchased, Firearms
Firearms: Allows the use of handguns, submachine guns, and shotguns. +1% to hit per skill level.
What caught his attention was that the Skill level for Firearms was “0”. The ETU for the skill was “ETU: 10 / 5 uses to level 1.” That couldn’t be right. He’d used handguns and submachine guns at least 10 times. Anton thought back to every handgun and submachine gun he’d used. After a little while, he figured it out. The handgun he thought he’d figured it out. It seemed that if he didn’t continue to utilize the attack the work he’d done faded and he had to redo that work. While he’d used multiple guns, he’d never killed 10 people in one setting with a single firearm. He had killed 5 people with his silenced browning just a little while ago, which meant that if he could use that weapon 5 more times within whatever time limit the SYSTEM had set he could earn level one without spending a skill point. Of course, he couldn’t be sure, but it was the only thing that made sense to him.
The X on the map had been in the middle of Australia. While he was in his Spectral Form he couldn’t see magic in the Prime Material plane but maybe he could do so if he Manifested. One thing about Australia, is there weren’t any clouds over the center of the continent. Anton stopped descending, activated Manifest, and looked around.
Immediately he noticed a pillar of light on the horizon just west of his position. He deactivated Manifest and it vanished. He activated Manifest again and it was back. So, he could see magic while manifesting. Good to know. Of course, if he was manifest, others could see him but that didn’t really matter did it? It wasn’t like anyone could do anything to him.
Anton headed toward the light. Below him was a range of hills and low mountains with valleys and paths running through them. The pillar of magic descended into one of the valleys that served as a crossroads for a few different valleys that came together at that point. Where the light met the ground a small circle of stones sat. It was surrounded by trees along the bottom of the ravines and openings into the natural passes the hills and mountains created an orb sat there. There was also an obvious place for a campfire and a small stream along one side of the clearing.
Anton deactivated Manifest, floated down to the campsite, and looked around. As he looked around a party of elves appeared in the center of the circle of stones, looked around, and shook their heads. A moment later they vanished. Anton couldn’t say that he was surprised. This entrance, or exit, from another location, led to a place that was in the middle of nowhere.
Anton looked around and realized that if he’d appeared in the middle of that circle for the first time and looked around, yeah, he wouldn’t be impressed either. It sat in the middle of a ravine with hills and mountains rising on all sides. There was no way to know what was around and the only evidence of civilization was the small place for a campfire off to the side. Yeah, that would get a big nope from him as well, if he had a choice, and he couldn’t just activate Specter and go look around of course.
Anton deactivated Specter and stepped into the center of the circle of stones.
Would you like to Activate the Labyrinth Teleportation Circle, Yes or No?
Warning, Target Location may or may not be compatible with all species that utilize this teleportation circle.
Anton chose “Yes” and vanished. A moment later he found himself floating in a cube of soft white light. He floated in the center of the cube for a single moment before he received notifications and vanished from the white room to appear in a cave with a pedestal and a familiar gray orb floating above it. He looked around quickly and noted the natural walls and an exit directly in front of him. Except for the node and himself, the cave was empty.
Anton reached out and touched the node as he pulled up his notifications and read them in order.
Warning!
Dimensional Interference Detected
Traveler Identified as Source
Required Alterations added to Labyrinth Teleportation Matrix
Alterations distributed throughout Labyrinth Network
Recommencing Teleportation.
Those notifications must have been when he teleported. The next few were when he touched the node
Congratulations! You have discovered a Labyrinth Node
Location: 1 of 16
World: Vala
Universe: Labyrinth Seed VX-001234a
Recommended Levels 1-100 depending on location
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Mana Level: 100% Saturation
This Labyrinth Node has been added to your Labyrinth Node Registry.
As Anton looked over the information he had to admit it was quite informative. Also, he opened his Status Screen and found a tab. Sure enough, when he asked for the Labyrinth Node Registry there were three entries. The first two were designated by the word Earth with a shortcut to a designation number that was far too long to remember. The same was true for the 3rd entry which was for Vala.
Labyrinth Node Registry
Available
Vala <…> Node 1 of 16
Unavailable
Earth <…> Portal
Earth <…> Teleportation Circle.
There was no further information provided with the entries, which meant he’d have to remember where each led. Of course, for the Earth he’d just left that was pretty easy. The Portal was located in New York City while the Teleportation Circle was in the middle of Australia. Also, only the Node seemed to be available. Did that mean he’d have to use a Teleportation Circle to target a Teleportation Circle, or a Portal to target a Portal? If that were true, that would be tiresome, unless you could find a location that provided all three types of fast travel options.
Well, there was no way to know until he found another Teleportation Circle or Portal so he might as well get out of this cave. Anton removed his hand from the Node and walked over to the entrance of a cave. The entrance looked down a hill onto a beach that stretched off to his right and left and overlooked an azure, blue ocean that extended out onto the horizon. As he looked around, he noticed a footpath that led into the cave from the right. Anton followed it out of the cave and soon found himself walking up a hill that led above and behind the cave entrance. Once he reached the top of the hill snowcapped mountains with a city at the base were visible in the distance. A medieval-looking city that looked quite large. Between himself and the city farm fields with people working them were visible in the distance. The people in the fields looked humanoid but he couldn’t be sure they were human.
Anton followed the path toward the city. As he drew closer to one of the farms he realized that the humanoids were not human. Human-like for sure, but not human. They had pointed ears, but they weren’t elves. They also had horizontal ridges on their foreheads. When Anton drew close to one of the farms and was less than 10 feet from one of the humanoids which looked at him warily, Anton activated Identity.
You have discovered a Carinus Farmer, Level 3
Interesting. He didn’t get any other information but with a skill level of 1 with Identify, he wasn’t surprised. Anton continued to use Identify on each Carinus that came within range. After 20 uses of Identify the skill’s level increased to 2. After 30 more uses it increased to level 3. Each increase in level increased the skill’s range by 10 feet and the PE cost by 1. Since he was regenerating 5 PE every 10 seconds, he was able to keep on identifying everyone he came across, By the time he was less than 1,000 feet from the city gates he’d identified over 200 Carinus and reached level 4.
Anton opened his Status Screen to see if any new data was available concerning his Identify Skill
Psychic Skill: Identify
Range: 40 Feet
PE: 4 per use
If successful, provide creature type, class, and level. More information becomes available every 10 levels.
Number of uses toward next level 5 of 50.
Note: Continued use of skill is required to progress in this manner. If you pause for more than one hour, progress toward the next level is reset.
Note: Skill Points spent to increase a skill level automatically resets and skill progression through use.
So, to increase his skill levels he either had to use the skill or spend skill points. If he used the skill, he had to continuously utilize the skill or the progress would be lost. Anton wondered if skill levels that were earned would eventually wear away or if each level acted as a stopping point when the skill progress toward the next level reset. Regardless, it meant that he would have to be dedicated to leveling a skill he was working on. This change actually made sense to Anton. If you didn’t use something you tended to forget how to after all. It also made skill points very valuable when leveling skills as well as making it much more likely that someone who utilized a skill all the time would be much higher level, while some would only be able to get skills to a certain level before progress would stall out.
Anton opened his Status Screen and pulled up the description for his skill, Short Blades.
Short Blades – This skill increases attacks and defense with items classified as Short Blades by 1% per Skill Level.
Short Blades include, but are not limited to, Daggers, Dirks, knives, Short Swords, etc.…
Level 5 Special Attack – Feint
Feint – The Short Blade may be utilized in a feint that leaves the target vulnerable to the next attack made against them by anyone.
Stamina Cost: 10
Effect: Decreases defense by 25% toward the next attack made against them.
Level 10 Special Attack – Piercing Blow
Piercing Blow- A Short Blade may be utilized to strike vital organs or targets.
Stamina Cost: 20
Damage Bonus: 1 point and applies Bleeding Status at 1 point per Combat turn until bandaged or healed.
Level 15 Special Attack – Surprise Attack
Surprise Attack – any equipped Blade may be utilized when outside of combat to make a sudden attack against any target within melee range.
Stamina Cost: 25
Effect: +25% to hit when making an attack against an unsuspecting target. This bonus stacks with sneak attacks. Additionally, maximum weapon damage is inflicted.
Level 20 Special Attack – Piercing Blow (Evolved)
Piercing Blow (Evolved)- A Short Blade may be utilized to strike vital organs or targets.
Stamina Cost: 20
Damage Bonus: 5 points and applies Bleeding Status at 3 points per Combat Turn until bandaged or healed.
That was interesting. It looked like the skill had been remolded a bit. Additionally, it looked like special attacks had been added to skills. Mostly to his combat skills. He still didn’t know how that would all play out during combat but as his attention was drawn to the Carinus farmers making their way toward the gate to the city and the obvious interest the guards there were showing him, he might get to figure that all out sooner than later.
Anton watched as the farmers dropped off their tools and baskets and tools in wagons along the wall and walked toward the gate. They fell into line and waited as the Sun dropped lower and lower on the horizon. Just as the last rays of sun dropped below the horizon Anton felt and heard a sigh as something changed in the air. He couldn’t place his finger on it but if he had to describe it, the area he was now in felt almost unholy. The farmers still stood in line with their heads bowed as the guards stood stoically watching over them. Anton was still a quarter mile away when he saw three robbed figures step up beside the guards and then move among the lined-up farmers. Ten were gently touched on their shoulders, stepped out of line, and passed through the gate. Anton could not see where they were off to, he just knew they were headed into the city.
As for Anton, he found it a bit abnormal but decided to continue toward the gate. After all, what could anyone here do to him? He was immortal after all. Ironically, that was the last coherent thought Anton would have for quite a while as one of the robe figures lifted their gaze to Anton and red glowing eyes met his and…
***
“He breaking free, reapply the conditioning”
***
Anton heard himself ask, “Where am I” as he looked around and felt his neck, as his fingers were brought into view covered in blood”
“Don’t you worry, we’ll get you all fixed up in a minute,” a sultry feminine voice said as her red glowing eyes drew his attention away from her fangs and…
***
You have Died! Specter has activated
Anton immediately came back to himself and remembered everything. The first thing he did was extend the duration of Specter and flew east toward the rising sun.
How could he have been so stupid? He just had to jinx himself, didn’t he? Unlike when he’d woke up as the mental control of Azre’el had begun to slip there was no confusion. He knew where he was, where he’d been, and what he’d been doing for the last, how long had it been? In his Specter Form his mind was intact and her mental influence was now non-existent.
Before reviewing anything, he needed to find a safe place away from the city of Dravul and “Her” influence. He could see that he had a lot of notifications to go over but he needed to be in a safe place to do so. One good thing, the vampire that had been feeding on him and accidentally killed him was going to have a horrible day when his Azre’el found out.
Anton flew for another hour until the rays of the sun were on the ground below him and then began looking for a place to land. It was all he could do to focus on moving away from the city of Dravul as memories of the years he’d spent there flooded his mind. Memories of combat lesson after combat lesson, followed by being used as a source of sustenance. Sustenance? That bitch and her friends had fed on him continuously. When Azre’el discovered that he was immortal and that any damage that didn’t kill him would heal quickly she began using him for combat training after which he was cleaned up and turned into their meal for the day.
At first, it had just been Azre’el. Then something had changed. Feeding on Anton had changed something fundamentally within Azre’el which had turned him into a commodity for all of the other vampires in Dravul. Well, the vampires that could pay Azre’el’s price anyway.
Over time he’d begun to build up a resistance to her mental compulsions and finally today, he’d played into the feeding session until Eilex had tried to drain him dry. He knew it would kill him and he hoped it would set him free. He’d been lucky they never asked what his second ability was.
Anton found a clearing near a river and flew down to hover over the ground near a log. That should be far enough, shouldn’t it? Anton looked around and made sure no predators were nearby. With nothing around, Anton deactivated Specter as new Notifications populated his vision, the first drawing his attention immediately.
Warning! You have Suffered Soul Damage